失败的额外收益与想象力的重要性.docVIP

The?Fringe?Benefits?of?Failure,?and?the?Importance?of?Imagination 失败的额外收益与想象力的重要性 ?by J. k. Rowling At your age, in spite of a distinct lack of motivation at university, where I had spent far too long in the coffee bar writing stories, and far too little time at lectures, I had a knack for passing examinations, and that, for years, had been the measure of success in my life and that of my peers. 和你们差不多大的时侯，我对学校功课明显缺乏热情，很少去听课，反而花了大把的时间在咖啡吧里写小说，不过我似乎天生就有通过考试的本领，凭借这点，我过了数年所谓“成功”的生活。 1. motivation [mot?′ve??n] n. 积极性;干劲 2. knack [n?k] n.技能; 本领 I am not dull enough to suppose that because you are young, gifted and well-educated; you have never known hardship or heartbreak. Talent and intelligence never yet inoculated anyone against the caprice of the Fates, and I do not for a moment suppose that everyone here has enjoyed an existence of unruffled privilege and contentment. 我还不至于笨到认为，你们这些天资聪颖又受过良好教育的年轻人，会不知道艰难和心碎的滋味。即使才华横溢，智商一流，你们的人生也不可能全无波澜。我也从不觉得，你们已经享受到了特殊身份带来的满足感。 3. inoculate [?′nɑkj?let] n. 给…做预防注射 4. caprice [k?′pris] n. 反复无常 5. unruffled [?n′r?f?ld] adj. 镇静的，平静的 6. contentment [k?n′t?ntm?nt] n. 满足，满意 However, the fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average persons idea of success, so high have you already flown academically. 但是，你们是哈佛大学的毕业生这个事实说明，你们还不怎么熟悉失败。正如你们渴望成功一样，你们可能也害怕失败。的确，你们构想的失败也许就是普通人眼里的成功，因为你们毕竟已经在学术殿堂的高空翱翔。 7．well-acquainted [w?l ?′kwent?d] adj.熟悉的 8．conception [k?n′s?p??n] n. 构想，设想 Ultimately, we all have to decide for ourselves what constitutes failure, but the world is quite eager to give you a set of criteria if you let it. So I think it fair to say that by any conventional measure, a mere seven years after my graduation day, I had failed on an epic scale. An exceptionally short-lived marriage had imploded, and I was jobless